Flat Out Food series host Jenn Sharpe with Night Oven owner Brynn Rawlyk. (Twitter/@FlatOutFoodSK)

By Alice McFarlane

Flat Out Food

Saskatchewan Field-to-Plate Journey

Feb 22, 2021 | 2:30 PM

A six-part made-in-Saskatchewan documentary series debuts this week.

Flat Out Food is hosted by Saskatoon journalist and author Jenn Sharp.

Sharpe gained an appreciation for the Saskatchewan food scene writing for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

“There’s much more to these stories then about whether a restaurant is making food well or not. It was the stories about farmers and how they were growing and raising our food, the land, and the different systems. Those were the stories that captured me,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe wrote a book about her experiences. Flat Out Delicious: Your Definitive Guide to Saskatchewan’s Food Artisans is described as a travel companion that shares the stories of the people who craft great food in Saskatchewan.

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Sharp met Adrian Halter of HalterMedia and the pair came up with the idea of creating a food series for television based on stories in her book.

Each episode is “looking at unique and iconic ingredients from Saskatchewan and tracing their journey from a farmers field or the forest through to the food artisans using them in different ways and ending with chefs that create beautiful meals with them,” she said.

There are currently six episodes in the series. While each episode will focus on special ingredients, like chanterelle mushrooms, it was what was being done with more common ingredients that fascinated Sharpe, she said.

“Like wheat and lentils and how we’re adding value in Saskatchewan, not exporting it away,” Sharpe said. “Keeping it in the province and selling it directly to consumers here in ways people might not have thought about before.”

Sharpe said she discovered there is a strong connection between farmers and the restaurant industry.

“The chefs and restauranteurs are working very hard to form connections with local farmers,” Sharpe said. “Any chef worth his or her salt knows the best tasting food comes from ingredients grown close to home.”

Sharpe said she enjoyed watching the chefs’ excitement over the ingredients.

“They may not have grown up on farms but (they) appreciate what our farmers are doing. For some of the farmers they had never seen their ingredient used in such a way. It was quite a beautiful story.”

Sharpe said the epitome of food security is food systems that support farmers and the artisans using the ingredients.

“The pandemic showed us what can happen when the global supply chain breaks down. If we can direct more of that money here at home and keep it in our regional economy and support our farmers here, I think that’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.

The first episode called Wheat features John Cote and Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote, owners of Black Fox Farm & Distillery, and Night Oven Bakery owner Brynn Rawlyk. It will air on Feb. 24 at 10:00 p.m. on Citytv Saskatchewan.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF